The "state" of the matter refers to the group of matter with the same properties. In other words, you group the objects together according to their properties.Properties describe matter. A block of wood, milk, and air all have properties. All the material on earth is in three states-solid, liquid, and gas.
taken from:http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/textbook/statesofmatter.html
Properties describe matter. A block of wood, milk, and air all have properties. All the material on earth is in three states-solid, liquid, and gas. The "state" of the matter refers to the group of matter with the same properties. In other words, you group the objects together according to their properties.
Solids
The wood block is solid. A solid has a certain size and shape. The wood block does not change size or shape. Other examples of solids are the computer, the desk, and the floor.
You can change the shape of solids. You change the shape of sheets of lumber by sawing it in half or burning it.
From wood to
How might you change the shape of a piece of gum?
Liquids
Milk is a liquid. Milk is liquid matter. It has a size or volume. Volume means it takes up space. But milk doesn't have a definite shape. It takes the shape of its container.
Liquids can flow, be poured, and spilled. Did you ever spill juice? Did you notice how the liquid goes everywhere and you have to hurry and wipe it up? The liquid is taking the shape of the floor and the floor is expansive limitless boundary (until it hits the wall). You can't spill a wooden block. You can drop it and it still has the same shape.
What about jello and peanut butter?
You can spread peanut butter on bread, but peanut butter does not flow. It is not a liquid at room temperature. You have to heat peanut butter up to make it a liquid. When you or your mom makes jello, it is first a liquid. You have to put it in the refrigerator so that it becomes a solid. These are yummy forms of matter with properties of a liquid and a solid.
Gases
Run in place very fast for a minute. Do you notice how hard you are breathing? What you are breathing is oxygen? You need oxygen to live. That's why you can only hold your breath for a certain amount of time.
You can't see oxygen. It's invisible. It is a gas. A gas is matter that has no shape or size of its own. Gases have no color.
Gases are all around you. You can feel gas when the wind blows. The wind is moving air. Air is many gases mixed together. Taken from: http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/textbook/statesofmatter.html
Matter is a term that traditionally refers to the //substance// that all objects are made of,[1][2] though //Aristotelian////hylomorphism// holds that matter is not necessarily a material category. The common way to identify this "substance" is through its //physical properties//; a common definition of matter is anything that has //mass// and occupies a //volume//.[3] However, this definition has to be revised in light of //quantum mechanics//, where the concept of "having mass", and "occupying space" are not as well-defined as in everyday life. A more general view is that bodies are made of several substances, and the properties of matter (including mass and volume) are determined not only by the substances themselves, but by how they interact. In other words, matter is made up of interacting "building blocks",[4][5] the so-called particulate theory of matter.[6]
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, //Isaac Newton// viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces."[7] The "primary" properties of matter were amenable to mathematical description, unlike "secondary" qualities such as color or taste.[7] In the 19th century, following the development of the //periodic table//, and of //atomic theory//, //atoms// were seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter; atoms formed //molecules// and //compounds//.[8]
Matter is everything around you. Matter is anything made of atoms and molecules. Matter is anything that has a mass. Matter is also related to light and electromagnetic radiation. Even though matter can be found all over the universe, you usually find it in just a few forms. As of 1995, scientists have identified five states of matter. They may discover one more by the time you get old.
You should know about solids, liquids, gases, plasmas, and a new one called Bose-Einstein condensates. The first four have been around a long time. The scientists who worked with the Bose-Einstein condensate received a Nobel Prize for their work in 1995. But what makes a state of matter? It's about the physical state of molecules and atoms.
Following a decade that has seen unprecedented changes in the accelerated horizon, we begin a new year and a new decade that is a crucial turning point in so many areas of cutting edge research and discovery. As we delve deeper for example, into dark matter, the visible realm with Hubble, connected nature on brave new worlds, the submicroscopic with CERN, breakthrough medical discoveries and environmentally sustainable solutions, it is vital to preserve and reinforce our sense of humanity. In this 2010 UN Year of Biodiversity, the words of Albert Einstein ring true:
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe’, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.” the matterMatter is anything that occupies a place in space. Then, watch this video about the matter
Matter is a term that traditionally refers to the substance that all objects are made of, though Aristotelian hylomorphism holds that matter is not necessarily a material category. The common way to identify this "substance" is through its physical properties; a common definition of matter is anything that has mass and occupies a volume. However, this definition has to be revised in light of quantum mechanics, where the concept of "having mass", and "occupying space" are not as well-defined as in everyday life. A more general view is that bodies are made of several substances, and the properties of matter (including mass and volume) are determined not only by the substances themselves, but by how they interact. In other words, matter is made up of interacting "building blocks", the so-called particulate theory of matter.
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, Isaac Newton viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces." The "primary" properties of matter were amenable to mathematical description, unlike "secondary" qualities such as color or taste. In the 19th century, following the development of the periodic table, and of atomic theory, atoms were seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter; atoms formed molecules and compounds.
In the late 19th century with the discovery of the electron, and in the early 20th century, with the discovery of the atomic nucleus, and the birth of particle physics, matter was seen as made up of electrons, protons and neutrons interacting to form atoms. Today, we know that even protons and neutrons are not indivisible, they can be divided into quarks, while electrons are part of a particle family called leptons. Both quarks and leptons are elementary particles, and are currently seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter.
These quarks and leptons interact through four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and strong interactions. The Standard Model of particle physics is currently the best explanation for all of physics, but despite decades of efforts, gravity cannot yet be accounted for at the quantum-level; it is only described by classical physics (see quantum gravity and graviton). Interactions between quarks and leptons are the result of an exchange of force-carrying particles (such as photons) between quarks and leptons. The force-carrying particles are not themselves building blocks. As one consequence, mass and energy (which cannot be created or destroyed) cannot always be related to matter (which can be created out of non-matter particles such as photons, or even out of pure energy, such as kinetic energy). Force carriers are usually not considered matter: the carriers of the electric force (photons) possess energy (see Planck relation) and the carriers of the weak force (W and Z bosons) are massive, but neither are considered matter either. However, while these particles are not considered matter, they do contribute to the total mass of atoms, subatomic particles, and all systems which contain them.
Matter is commonly said to exist in four states (or phases): solid, liquid, gas and plasma. However, advances in experimental technique have realized other phases, previously only theoretical constructs, such as Bose–Einstein condensates and Fermionic condensates. A focus on an elementary-particle view of matter also leads to new phases of matter, such as the quark–gluon plasma.
In physics and chemistry, mater exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties, the so-called wave–particle duality.
In the realm of cosmology, extensions of the term matter are invoked to include dark matter and dark energy, concepts introduced to explain some odd phenomena of the observable universe, such as the galactic rotation curve. These exotic forms of "matter" do not refer to matter as "building blocks", but rather to currently poorly-understood forms of mass and energy. taken from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter
Matter
Atoms from Democritus to Dalton
by Anthony Carpi, Ph.D.
elements of matter
Early humans easily distinguished between materials that were used for making clothes, shaping into tools, or good to eat, and they developed a language of words to describe these things, such as “fur,” “stone,” or “rabbit.” However, these people did not have our current understanding of the substances that made up those objects. Empedocles, a Greek philosopher and scientist who lived on the south coast of Sicily between 492 b.c. and 432 b.c., proposed one of the first theories that attempted to describe the things around us. Empedocles argued that all matter was composed of four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. The ratio of these four elements affected the properties of the matter. Stone was thought to contain a high amount of earth, while a rabbit was thought to have a higher ratio of both water and fire, thus making it soft and giving it life. Empedocles’s theory was quite popular, but it had a number of problems. For example, no matter how many times you break a stone in half, the pieces never resemble any of the core elements of fire, air, water, or earth. Despite these problems, Empedocles’s theory was an important development in scientific thinking because it was among the first to suggest that some substances that looked like pure materials, like stone, were actually made up of a combination of different "elements."
chemical reaction - ancient
A few decades after Empedocles, Democritus, another Greek who lived from 460 b.c. to 370 b.c., developed a new theory of matter that attempted to overcome the problems of his predecessor. Democritus’s ideas were based on reasoning rather than science, and drew on the teachings of two Greek philosophers who came before him: Leucippus and Anaxagoras. Democritus knew that if you took a stone and cut it in half, each half had the same properties as the original stone. He reasoned that if you continued to cut the stone into smaller and smaller pieces, at some point you would reach a piece so tiny that it could no longer be divided. Democritus called these infinitesimally small pieces of matter atomos, meaning "indivisible." He suggested that atomos were eternal and could not be destroyed. Democritus theorized that atomos were specific to the material that they made up, meaning that the atomos of stone were unique to stone and different from the atomos of other materials, such as fur. This was a remarkable theory that attempted to explain the whole physical world in terms of a small number of ideas.
stoneandatoms
furandatoms
Stone
Fur
Ultimately, though, Aristotle and Plato, two of the best-known philosophers of Ancient Greece, rejected the theories of Democritus. Aristotle accepted the theory of Empedocles, adding his own (incorrect) idea that the four core elements could be transformed into one another. Because of Aristotle’s great influence, Democritus’s theory would have to wait almost 2,000 years before being rediscovered.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a.d., several key events helped revive the theory that matter was made of small, indivisible particles. In 1643, Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian mathematician and pupil of Galileo, showed that air had weight and was capable of pushing down on a column of liquid mercury (thus inventing the barometer). This was a startling finding. If air - this substance that we could not see, feel, or smell - had weight, it must be made of something physical. But how could something have a physical presence, yet not respond to human touch or sight? Daniel Bernoulli, a Swiss mathematician, proposed an answer. He developed a theory that air and other gases consist of tiny particles that are too small to be seen, and are loosely packed in an empty volume of space. The particles could not be felt because unlike a solid stone wall that does not move, the tiny particles move aside when a human hand or body moves through them. Bernoulli reasoned that if these particles were not in constant motion they would settle to the ground like dust particles; therefore he pictured air and other gases as loose collections of tiny billiard-ball-like particles that are continuously moving around and bouncing off one another.
cinnabar - 3D
Many scientists were busy studying the natural world at this time. Shortly after Bernoulli proposed his theory, the Englishman Joseph Priestley began to experiment with red mercury calx in 1773. Mercury calx, a red solid stone, had been known and coveted for thousands of years because when it is heated, it appears to turn into mercury, a silver liquid metal. Priestley had observed that it does not just turn into mercury; it actually breaks down into two substances when it is heated, liquid mercury and a strange gas. Priestley carefully collected this gas in glass jars and studied it. After many long days and nights in the laboratory, Priestley said of the strange gas, “what surprised me more than I can well express was that a candle burned in this air with a remarkably vigorous flame.” Not only did flames burn strongly in this gas, but a mouse placed in a sealed container of this gas lived for a longer period of time than a mouse placed in a sealed container of ordinary air. Priestley’s discovery revealed that substances could combine together or break apart to form new substances with different properties. For example, a colorless, odorless gas could combine with mercury, a silver metal, to form mercury calx, a red mineral.
Priestley called the gas he discovered dephlogisticated air, but this name would not stick. In 1778, Antoine Lavoisier, a French scientist, conducted many experiments with dephlogisticated air and theorized that the gas made some substances acidic. He renamed Priestley’s gas oxygen, from the Greek words that loosely translate as "acid maker". While Lavoisier’s theory about oxygen and acids proved incorrect, his name stuck. Lavoisier knew from other scientists before him that acids react with some metals to release another strange and highly flammable gas called phlogiston. Lavoisier mixed the two gases, phlogiston and the newly renamed oxygen, in a closed glass container and inserted a match. He saw that phlogiston immediately burned in the presence of oxygen and afterwards he observed droplets of water on the glass container. After careful testing, Lavoisier realized that the water was formed by the reaction of phlogiston and oxygen, and so he renamed phlogiston hydrogen, from the Greek words for "water maker". Lavoisier also burned other substances such as phosphorus and sulfur in air, and showed that they combined with air to make new materials. These new materials weighed more than the original substances, and Lavoisier showed that the weight gained by the new materials was lost from the air in which the substances were burned. From these observations, Lavoisier established the Law of Conservation of Mass, which says that mass is not lost or gained during a chemical reaction.
priestleys apparatus - An eighteenth-century chemistry bench.
An eighteenth-century chemistry bench.
Priestley, Lavoisier, and others had laid the foundations of the field of chemistry. Their experiments showed that some substances could combine with others to form new materials; other substances could be broken apart to form simpler ones; and a few key “elements” could not be broken down any further. But what could explain this complex set of observations? John Dalton, an exceptional British teacher and scientist, put together the pieces and developed the first modern atomic theory in 1803. To learn more about Priestley's and Lavoisier's experiments and how they formed the basis of Dalton's theories, try the interactive experiment Dalton's Playhouse, linked to below. Dalton's Playhouse
An interactive, virtual set of experiments that allow you to recreate classic experiments from the nineteenth century.
Dalton made it a regular habit to track and record the weather in his home town of Manchester, England. Through his observations of morning fog and other weather patterns, Dalton realized that water could exist as a gas that mixed with air and occupied the same space as air. Solids could not occupy the same space as each other; for example, ice could not mix with air. So what could allow water to sometimes behave as a solid and sometimes as a gas? Dalton realized that all matter must be composed of tiny particles. In the gas state, those particles floated freely around and could mix with other gases, as Bernoulli had proposed. But Dalton extended this idea to apply to all matter – gases, solids and liquids. Dalton first proposed part of his atomic theory in 1803 and later refined these concepts in his classic 1808 paper A New System of Chemical Philosophy (which you can access through a link in the right menu).
All matter is composed of indivisible particles called atoms. Bernoulli, Dalton, and others pictured atoms as tiny billiard-ball-like particles in various states of motion. While this concept is useful to help us understand atoms, it is not correct as we will see in later modules on atomic theory linked to at the bottom of this module.
All atoms of a given element are identical; atoms of different elements have different properties. Dalton’s theory suggested that every single atom of an element such as oxygen is identical to every other oxygen atom; furthermore, atoms of different elements, such as oxygen and mercury, are different from each other. Dalton characterized elements according to their atomic weight; however, when isotopes of elements were discovered in the late 1800s this concept changed.
Chemical reactions involve the combination of atoms, not the destruction of atoms. Atoms are indestructible and unchangeable, so compounds, such as water and mercury calx, are formed when one atom chemically combines with other atoms. This was an extremely advanced concept for its time; while Dalton’s theory implied that atoms bonded together, it would be more than 100 years before scientists began to explain the concept of chemical bonding.
When elements react to form compounds, they react in defined, whole-number ratios. The experiments that Dalton and others performed showed that reactions are not random events; they proceed according to precise and well-defined formulas. This important concept in chemistry is discussed in more detail below.
Some of the details of Dalton’s atomic theory require more explanation. Elements: As early as 1660, Robert Boyle recognized that the Greek definition of element (earth, fire, air, and water) was not correct. Boyle proposed a new definition of an element as a fundamental substance, and we now define elements as fundamental substances that cannot be broken down further by chemical means. Elements are the building blocks of the universe. They are pure substances that form the basis of all of the materials around us. Some elements can be seen in pure form, such as mercury in a thermometer; some we see mainly in chemical combination with others, such as oxygen and hydrogen in water. We now know of approximately 116 different elements. Each of the elements is given a name and a one- or two-letter abbreviation. Often this abbreviation is simply the first letter of the element; for example, hydrogen is abbreviated as H, and oxygen as O. Sometimes an element is given a two-letter abbreviation; for example, helium is He. When writing the abbreviation for an element, the first letter is always capitalized and the second letter (if there is one) is always lowercase. Atoms: A single unit of an element is called an atom. The atom is the most basic unit of the matter that makes up everything in the world around us. Each atom retains all of the chemical and physical properties of its parent element. At the end of the nineteenth century, scientists would show that atoms were actually made up of smaller, "subatomic" pieces, which smashed the billiard-ball concept of the atom (see our Atomic [[http://www.visionlearning.com/library/pop_glossary_term.php?oid=4854&l=|Theory I: The Early Days]] module).
water molecule-with hooks
Compounds: Most of the materials we come into contact with are compounds, substances formed by the chemical combination of two or more atoms of the elements. A single “particle” of a compound is called a molecule. Dalton incorrectly imagined that atoms “hooked” together to form molecules. However, Dalton correctly realized that compounds have precise formulas. Water, for example, is always made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. The chemical formula of a compound is written by listing the symbols of the elements together, without any spaces between them. If a molecule contains more than one atom of an element, a number is subscripted after the symbol to show the number of atoms of that element in the molecule. Thus the formula for water is H2O, never HO or H2O2.
The idea that compounds have defined chemical formulas was first proposed in the late 1700s by the French chemist Joseph Proust. Proust performed a number of experiments and observed that no matter how he caused different elements to react with oxygen, they always reacted in defined proportions. For example, two parts of hydrogen always reacts with one part oxygen when forming water; one part mercury always reacts with one part oxygen when forming mercury calx. Dalton used Proust’s Law of Definite Proportions in developing his atomic theory.
balloon - definite proportions
The law also applies to multiples of the fundamental proportion, for example:
balloon - multiple proportions
In both of these examples, the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen to water is 2 to 1 to 1. When reactants are present in excess of the fundamental proportions, some reactants will remain unchanged after the chemical reaction has occurred.
balloon - excess reactant
The story of the development of modern atomic theory is one in which scientists built upon the work of others to produce a more accurate explanation of the world around them. This process is common in science, and even incorrect theories can contribute to important scientific discoveries. Dalton, Priestley, and others laid the foundation of atomic theory, and many of their hypotheses are still useful. However, in the decades after their work, other scientists would show that atoms are not solid billiard balls, but complex systems of particles. Thus they would smash apart a bit of Dalton’s atomic theory in an effort to build a more complete view of the world around us.
The Matter of Everything is a feature documentary that explores quantum reality and the interconnectedness of nature from the quantum to the universe. Challenging us to see beyond our everyday sense of experience, the film reveals what we are, a billionth of a billionth of the human scale. At that level, physicists at Fermilab, one of the world’s largest particle accelerators, describe a world more unified than ever imagined. Taken from: http://www.thematterofeverything.com/
Matter is a term that traditionally refers to the substance that all objects are made of, though Aristotelian hylomorphism holds that matter is not necessarily a material category. The common way to identify this "substance" is through its physical properties; a common definition of matter is anything that has mass and occupies a volume.However, this definition has to be revised in light of quantum mechanics, where the concept of "having mass", and "occupying space" are not as well-defined as in everyday life. A more general view is that bodies are made of several substances, and the properties of matter (including mass and volume) are determined not only by the substances themselves, but by how they interact. In other words, matter is made up of interacting "building blocks",the so-called particulate theory of matter.
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, Isaac Newton viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces."The "primary" properties of matter were amenable to mathematical description, unlike "secondary" qualities such as color or taste. In the 19th century, following the development of the periodic table, and of atomic theory, atoms were seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter; atoms formed molecules and compounds.
In the late 19th century with the discovery of the electron, and in the early 20th century, with the discovery of the atomic nucleus, and the birth of particle physics, matter was seen as made up of electrons, protons and neutrons interacting to form atoms. Today, we know that even protons and neutrons are not indivisible, they can be divided into quarks, while electrons are part of a particle family called leptons. Both quarks and leptons are elementary particles, and are currently seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter.
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, Isaac Newton viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces."The primary" properties of matter were amenable to
These quarks and leptons interact through four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and strong interactions. The Standard Model of particle physics is currently the best explanation for all of physics, but despite decades of efforts, gravity cannot yet be accounted for at the quantum-level; it is only described by classical physics (see quantum gravity and graviton). Interactions between quarks and leptons are the result of an exchange of force-carrying particles (such as photons) between quarks and leptons. The force-carrying particles are not themselves building blocks. As one consequence, mass and energy (which cannot be created or destroyed) cannot always be related to matter (which can be created out of non-matter particles such as photons, or even out of pure energy, such as kinetic energy). Force carriers are usually not considered matter: the carriers of the electric force (photons) possess energy (see Planck relation) and the carriers of the weak force (W and Z bosons) are massive, but neither are considered matter either.However, while these particles are not considered matter, they do contribute to the total mass of atoms, subatomic particles, and all systems which contain them.
Matter is commonly said to exist in four states (or phases): solid, liquid, gas and plasma. However, advances in experimental technique have realized other phases, previously only theoretical constructs, such as Bose–Einstein condensates and Fermionic condensates. A focus on an elementary-particle view of matter also leads to new phases of matter, such as the quark–gluon plasma.
In physics and chemistry, matter exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties, the so-called wave–particle duality.
In the realm of cosmology, extensions of the term matter are invoked to include dark matter and dark energy, concepts introduced to explain some odd phenomena of the observable universe, such as the galactic rotation curve. These exotic forms of "matter" do not refer to matter as "building blocks", but rather to currently poorly-understood forms of mass and energy.
Matter is a term that traditionally refers to the substance that all objects are made of, though Aristotelian hylomorphism holds that matter is not necessarily a material category. The common way to identify this "substance" is through its physical properties; a common definition of matter is anything that has mass and occupies a volume. However, this definition has to be revised in light of quantum mechanics, where the concept of "having mass", and "occupying space" are not as well-defined as in everyday life. A more general view is that bodies are made of several substances, and the properties of matter (including mass and volume) are determined not only by the substances themselves, but by how they interact. In other words, matter is made up of interacting "building blocks", the so-called particulate theory of matter.
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, Isaac Newton viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces. The "primary" properties of matter were amenable to mathematical description, unlike "secondary" qualities such as color or taste. In the 19th century, following the development of the periodic table, and of atomic theory, atoms were seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter; atoms formed molecules and compounds.
In the late 19th century with the discovery of the electron, and in the early 20th century, with the discovery of the atomic nucleus, and the birth of particle physics, matter was seen as made up of electrons, protons and neutrons interacting to form atoms. Today, we know that even protons and neutrons are not indivisible, they can be divided into quarks, while electrons are part of a particle family called leptons. Both quarks and leptons are elementary particles, and are currently seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter.
These quarks and leptons interact through four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and strong interactions. The Standard Model of particle physics is currently the best explanation for all of physics, but despite decades of efforts, gravity cannot yet be accounted for at the quantum-level; it is only described by classical physics (see quantum gravity and graviton). Interactions between quarks and leptons are the result of an exchange of force-carrying particles (such as photons) between quarks and leptons. The force-carrying particles are not themselves building blocks. As one consequence, mass and energy (which cannot be created or destroyed) cannot always be related to matter (which can be created out of non-matter particles such as photons, or even out of pure energy, such as kinetic energy). Force carriers are usually not considered matter: the carriers of the electric force (photons) possess energy (see Planck relation) and the carriers of the weak force (W and Z bosons) are massive, but neither are considered matter either. However, while these particles are not considered matter, they do contribute to the total mass of atoms, subatomic particles, and all systems which contain them.
Matter is commonly said to exist in four states (or phases): solid, liquid, gas and plasma. However, advances in experimental technique have realized other phases, previously only theoretical constructs, such as Bose–Einstein condensates and Fermionic condensates. A focus on an elementary-particle view of matter also leads to new phases of matter, such as the quark–gluon plasma.
In physics and chemistry, matter exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties, the so-called wave–particle duality.
In the realm of cosmology, extensions of the term matter are invoked to include dark matter and dark energy, concepts introduced to explain some odd phenomena of the observable universe, such as the galactic rotation curve. These exotic forms of "matter" do not refer to matter as "building blocks", but rather to currently poorly-understood forms of mass and energy. taken from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter
Matter, matter everywhere.
There's matter in your hair.
Matter in the air.
There's even matter in a pear!
There's liquid matter, solid matter, and matter that's a gas.
Even you are matter, because you have volume and mass!
Okay, so maybe I'm not a poet, but that's how I describe the "stuff" we call matter. In trying to make sense of the universe, scientists have classified everything that exists into two broad categories: matter and energy. Simply stated, matter can be thought of as "stuff" and energy is "the stuff that moves stuff."
Now, if you take all the "stuff" in the world, you know that there are many different types. To further simplify things, matter has been broken down into three basic types, or "states of matter": solids, liquids, and gas. (Actually there are more than three, but we're going to concentrate on the main forms here.)
Matter can change from one state to another, which we call a "physical change." Physical changes usually occur when heat (energy) is either added or taken away. A good example of a physical change is when an ice cube melts. It starts as a solid but when you add heat, it turns into a liquid. The cool thing about a physical change is that it can be reversed. If you take the liquid water from the melted ice and cool it down again (remove the heat), it turns back into a solid!
It turns out that heat isn´t the only type of energy that can cause a physical change in matter.
Matter, matter everywhere.
There's matter in your hair.
Matter in the air.
There's even matter in a pear!
There's liquid matter, solid matter, and matter that's a gas.
Even you are matter, because you have volume and mass!
Okay, so maybe I'm not a poet, but that's how I describe the "stuff" we call matter. In trying to make sense of the universe, scientists have classified everything that exists into two broad categories: matter and energy. Simply stated, matter can be thought of as "stuff" and energy is "the stuff that moves stuff."
Now, if you take all the "stuff" in the world, you know that there are many different types. To further simplify things, matter has been broken down into three basic types, or "states of matter": solids, liquids, and gas. (Actually there are more than three, but we're going to concentrate on the main forms here.)
Matter can change from one state to another, which we call a "physical change." Physical changes usually occur when heat (energy) is either added or taken away. A good example of a physical change is when an ice cube melts. It starts as a solid but when you add heat, it turns into a liquid. The cool thing about a physical change is that it can be reversed. If you take the liquid water from the melted ice and cool it down again (remove the heat), it turns back into a solid!
It turns out that heat isn't the only type of energy that can cause a physical change in matter. In my Science Lab, you'll see what happens when mechanical energy meets some wild and wacky "mystery matter"!
The "state" of the matter refers to the group of matter with the same properties. In other words, you group the objects together according to their properties.Properties describe matter. A block of wood, milk, and air all have properties. All the material on earth is in three states-solid, liquid, and gas.
taken from:http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/textbook/statesofmatter.html
Properties describe matter. A block of wood, milk, and air all have properties. All the material on earth is in three states-solid, liquid, and gas. The "state" of the matter refers to the group of matter with the same properties. In other words, you group the objects together according to their properties.
Solids
The wood block is solid. A solid has a certain size and shape. The wood block does not change size or shape. Other examples of solids are the computer, the desk, and the floor.
You can change the shape of solids. You change the shape of sheets of lumber by sawing it in half or burning it.
From wood to
How might you change the shape of a piece of gum?
Liquids
Milk is a liquid. Milk is liquid matter. It has a size or volume. Volume means it takes up space. But milk doesn't have a definite shape. It takes the shape of its container.
Liquids can flow, be poured, and spilled. Did you ever spill juice? Did you notice how the liquid goes everywhere and you have to hurry and wipe it up? The liquid is taking the shape of the floor and the floor is expansive limitless boundary (until it hits the wall). You can't spill a wooden block. You can drop it and it still has the same shape.
What about jello and peanut butter?
You can spread peanut butter on bread, but peanut butter does not flow. It is not a liquid at room temperature. You have to heat peanut butter up to make it a liquid. When you or your mom makes jello, it is first a liquid. You have to put it in the refrigerator so that it becomes a solid. These are yummy forms of matter with properties of a liquid and a solid.
Gases
Run in place very fast for a minute. Do you notice how hard you are breathing? What you are breathing is oxygen? You need oxygen to live. That's why you can only hold your breath for a certain amount of time.
You can't see oxygen. It's invisible. It is a gas. A gas is matter that has no shape or size of its own. Gases have no color.
Gases are all around you. You can feel gas when the wind blows. The wind is moving air. Air is many gases mixed together.
Taken from: http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/textbook/statesofmatter.html
Matter is a term that traditionally refers to the //substance// that all objects are made of,[1][2] though //Aristotelian// //hylomorphism// holds that matter is not necessarily a material category. The common way to identify this "substance" is through its //physical properties//; a common definition of matter is anything that has //mass// and occupies a //volume//.[3] However, this definition has to be revised in light of //quantum mechanics//, where the concept of "having mass", and "occupying space" are not as well-defined as in everyday life. A more general view is that bodies are made of several substances, and the properties of matter (including mass and volume) are determined not only by the substances themselves, but by how they interact. In other words, matter is made up of interacting "building blocks",[4][5] the so-called particulate theory of matter.[6]
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, //Isaac Newton// viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces."[7] The "primary" properties of matter were amenable to mathematical description, unlike "secondary" qualities such as color or taste.[7] In the 19th century, following the development of the //periodic table//, and of //atomic theory//, //atoms// were seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter; atoms formed //molecules// and //compounds//.[8]
taken from: //http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter//
Matter is the Stuff Around You
Matter is everything around you. Matter is anything made of atoms and molecules. Matter is anything that has a mass. Matter is also related to light and electromagnetic radiation. Even though matter can be found all over the universe, you usually find it in just a few forms. As of 1995, scientists have identified five states of matter. They may discover one more by the time you get old.
You should know about solids, liquids, gases, plasmas, and a new one called Bose-Einstein condensates. The first four have been around a long time. The scientists who worked with the Bose-Einstein condensate received a Nobel Prize for their work in 1995. But what makes a state of matter? It's about the physical state of molecules and atoms.
Taken from: //http://www.chem4kids.com/files/matter_intro.htm//
the matter
Following a decade that has seen unprecedented changes in the accelerated horizon, we begin a new year and a new decade that is a crucial turning point in so many areas of cutting edge research and discovery. As we delve deeper for example, into dark matter, the visible realm with Hubble, connected nature on brave new worlds, the submicroscopic with CERN, breakthrough medical discoveries and environmentally sustainable solutions, it is vital to preserve and reinforce our sense of humanity. In this 2010 UN Year of Biodiversity, the words of Albert Einstein ring true:
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe’, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”
the matterMatter is anything that occupies a place in space.
Then, watch this video about the matter
http://mabryonline.org/blogs/shockley/WHAT%20IS%20MATTER-1.ppt taken from : the after direction
Matter is a term that traditionally refers to the substance that all objects are made of, though Aristotelian hylomorphism holds that matter is not necessarily a material category. The common way to identify this "substance" is through its physical properties; a common definition of matter is anything that has mass and occupies a volume. However, this definition has to be revised in light of quantum mechanics, where the concept of "having mass", and "occupying space" are not as well-defined as in everyday life. A more general view is that bodies are made of several substances, and the properties of matter (including mass and volume) are determined not only by the substances themselves, but by how they interact. In other words, matter is made up of interacting "building blocks", the so-called particulate theory of matter.
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, Isaac Newton viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces." The "primary" properties of matter were amenable to mathematical description, unlike "secondary" qualities such as color or taste. In the 19th century, following the development of the periodic table, and of atomic theory, atoms were seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter; atoms formed molecules and compounds.
In the late 19th century with the discovery of the electron, and in the early 20th century, with the discovery of the atomic nucleus, and the birth of particle physics, matter was seen as made up of electrons, protons and neutrons interacting to form atoms. Today, we know that even protons and neutrons are not indivisible, they can be divided into quarks, while electrons are part of a particle family called leptons. Both quarks and leptons are elementary particles, and are currently seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter.
These quarks and leptons interact through four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and strong interactions. The Standard Model of particle physics is currently the best explanation for all of physics, but despite decades of efforts, gravity cannot yet be accounted for at the quantum-level; it is only described by classical physics (see quantum gravity and graviton). Interactions between quarks and leptons are the result of an exchange of force-carrying particles (such as photons) between quarks and leptons. The force-carrying particles are not themselves building blocks. As one consequence, mass and energy (which cannot be created or destroyed) cannot always be related to matter (which can be created out of non-matter particles such as photons, or even out of pure energy, such as kinetic energy). Force carriers are usually not considered matter: the carriers of the electric force (photons) possess energy (see Planck relation) and the carriers of the weak force (W and Z bosons) are massive, but neither are considered matter either. However, while these particles are not considered matter, they do contribute to the total mass of atoms, subatomic particles, and all systems which contain them.
Matter is commonly said to exist in four states (or phases): solid, liquid, gas and plasma. However, advances in experimental technique have realized other phases, previously only theoretical constructs, such as Bose–Einstein condensates and Fermionic condensates. A focus on an elementary-particle view of matter also leads to new phases of matter, such as the quark–gluon plasma.
In physics and chemistry, mater exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties, the so-called wave–particle duality.
In the realm of cosmology, extensions of the term matter are invoked to include dark matter and dark energy, concepts introduced to explain some odd phenomena of the observable universe, such as the galactic rotation curve. These exotic forms of "matter" do not refer to matter as "building blocks", but rather to currently poorly-understood forms of mass and energy.
taken from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter
Matter
Atoms from Democritus to Dalton
by Anthony Carpi, Ph.D.A few decades after Empedocles, Democritus, another Greek who lived from 460 b.c. to 370 b.c., developed a new theory of matter that attempted to overcome the problems of his predecessor. Democritus’s ideas were based on reasoning rather than science, and drew on the teachings of two Greek philosophers who came before him: Leucippus and Anaxagoras. Democritus knew that if you took a stone and cut it in half, each half had the same properties as the original stone. He reasoned that if you continued to cut the stone into smaller and smaller pieces, at some point you would reach a piece so tiny that it could no longer be divided. Democritus called these infinitesimally small pieces of matter atomos, meaning "indivisible." He suggested that atomos were eternal and could not be destroyed. Democritus theorized that atomos were specific to the material that they made up, meaning that the atomos of stone were unique to stone and different from the atomos of other materials, such as fur. This was a remarkable theory that attempted to explain the whole physical world in terms of a small number of ideas.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a.d., several key events helped revive the theory that matter was made of small, indivisible particles. In 1643, Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian mathematician and pupil of Galileo, showed that air had weight and was capable of pushing down on a column of liquid mercury (thus inventing the barometer). This was a startling finding. If air - this substance that we could not see, feel, or smell - had weight, it must be made of something physical. But how could something have a physical presence, yet not respond to human touch or sight? Daniel Bernoulli, a Swiss mathematician, proposed an answer. He developed a theory that air and other gases consist of tiny particles that are too small to be seen, and are loosely packed in an empty volume of space. The particles could not be felt because unlike a solid stone wall that does not move, the tiny particles move aside when a human hand or body moves through them. Bernoulli reasoned that if these particles were not in constant motion they would settle to the ground like dust particles; therefore he pictured air and other gases as loose collections of tiny billiard-ball-like particles that are continuously moving around and bouncing off one another.
Priestley, Lavoisier, and others had laid the foundations of the field of chemistry. Their experiments showed that some substances could combine with others to form new materials; other substances could be broken apart to form simpler ones; and a few key “elements” could not be broken down any further. But what could explain this complex set of observations? John Dalton, an exceptional British teacher and scientist, put together the pieces and developed the first modern atomic theory in 1803. To learn more about Priestley's and Lavoisier's experiments and how they formed the basis of Dalton's theories, try the interactive experiment Dalton's Playhouse, linked to below.
Dalton's Playhouse
An interactive, virtual set of experiments that allow you to recreate classic experiments from the nineteenth century.
Dalton made it a regular habit to track and record the weather in his home town of Manchester, England. Through his observations of morning fog and other weather patterns, Dalton realized that water could exist as a gas that mixed with air and occupied the same space as air. Solids could not occupy the same space as each other; for example, ice could not mix with air. So what could allow water to sometimes behave as a solid and sometimes as a gas? Dalton realized that all matter must be composed of tiny particles. In the gas state, those particles floated freely around and could mix with other gases, as Bernoulli had proposed. But Dalton extended this idea to apply to all matter – gases, solids and liquids. Dalton first proposed part of his atomic theory in 1803 and later refined these concepts in his classic 1808 paper A New System of Chemical Philosophy (which you can access through a link in the right menu).
Dalton's theory had four main concepts:
- All matter is composed of indivisible particles called atoms. Bernoulli, Dalton, and others pictured atoms as tiny billiard-ball-like particles in various states of motion. While this concept is useful to help us understand atoms, it is not correct as we will see in later modules on atomic theory linked to at the bottom of this module.
- All atoms of a given element are identical; atoms of different elements have different properties. Dalton’s theory suggested that every single atom of an element such as oxygen is identical to every other oxygen atom; furthermore, atoms of different elements, such as oxygen and mercury, are different from each other. Dalton characterized elements according to their atomic weight; however, when isotopes of elements were discovered in the late 1800s this concept changed.
- Chemical reactions involve the combination of atoms, not the destruction of atoms. Atoms are indestructible and unchangeable, so compounds, such as water and mercury calx, are formed when one atom chemically combines with other atoms. This was an extremely advanced concept for its time; while Dalton’s theory implied that atoms bonded together, it would be more than 100 years before scientists began to explain the concept of chemical bonding.
- When elements react to form compounds, they react in defined, whole-number ratios. The experiments that Dalton and others performed showed that reactions are not random events; they proceed according to precise and well-defined formulas. This important concept in chemistry is discussed in more detail below.
Some of the details of Dalton’s atomic theory require more explanation.Elements: As early as 1660, Robert Boyle recognized that the Greek definition of element (earth, fire, air, and water) was not correct. Boyle proposed a new definition of an element as a fundamental substance, and we now define elements as fundamental substances that cannot be broken down further by chemical means. Elements are the building blocks of the universe. They are pure substances that form the basis of all of the materials around us. Some elements can be seen in pure form, such as mercury in a thermometer; some we see mainly in chemical combination with others, such as oxygen and hydrogen in water. We now know of approximately 116 different elements. Each of the elements is given a name and a one- or two-letter abbreviation. Often this abbreviation is simply the first letter of the element; for example, hydrogen is abbreviated as H, and oxygen as O. Sometimes an element is given a two-letter abbreviation; for example, helium is He. When writing the abbreviation for an element, the first letter is always capitalized and the second letter (if there is one) is always lowercase.
Atoms: A single unit of an element is called an atom. The atom is the most basic unit of the matter that makes up everything in the world around us. Each atom retains all of the chemical and physical properties of its parent element. At the end of the nineteenth century, scientists would show that atoms were actually made up of smaller, "subatomic" pieces, which smashed the billiard-ball concept of the atom (see our Atomic [[http://www.visionlearning.com/library/pop_glossary_term.php?oid=4854&l=|Theory I: The Early Days]] module).
The law also applies to multiples of the fundamental proportion, for example:
In both of these examples, the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen to water is 2 to 1 to 1. When reactants are present in excess of the fundamental proportions, some reactants will remain unchanged after the chemical reaction has occurred.
The story of the development of modern atomic theory is one in which scientists built upon the work of others to produce a more accurate explanation of the world around them. This process is common in science, and even incorrect theories can contribute to important scientific discoveries. Dalton, Priestley, and others laid the foundation of atomic theory, and many of their hypotheses are still useful. However, in the decades after their work, other scientists would show that atoms are not solid billiard balls, but complex systems of particles. Thus they would smash apart a bit of Dalton’s atomic theory in an effort to build a more complete view of the world around us.
taken from:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCgTJ6ID6ZA
The Matter of Everything is a feature documentary that explores quantum reality and the interconnectedness of nature from the quantum to the universe. Challenging us to see beyond our everyday sense of experience, the film reveals what we are, a billionth of a billionth of the human scale. At that level, physicists at Fermilab, one of the world’s largest particle accelerators, describe a world more unified than ever imagined.
Taken from: http://www.thematterofeverything.com/
Matter is a term that traditionally refers to the substance that all objects are made of, though Aristotelian hylomorphism holds that matter is not necessarily a material category. The common way to identify this "substance" is through its physical properties; a common definition of matter is anything that has mass and occupies a volume.However, this definition has to be revised in light of quantum mechanics, where the concept of "having mass", and "occupying space" are not as well-defined as in everyday life. A more general view is that bodies are made of several substances, and the properties of matter (including mass and volume) are determined not only by the substances themselves, but by how they interact. In other words, matter is made up of interacting "building blocks",the so-called particulate theory of matter.
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, Isaac Newton viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces."The "primary" properties of matter were amenable to mathematical description, unlike "secondary" qualities such as color or taste. In the 19th century, following the development of the periodic table, and of atomic theory, atoms were seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter; atoms formed molecules and compounds.
In the late 19th century with the discovery of the electron, and in the early 20th century, with the discovery of the atomic nucleus, and the birth of particle physics, matter was seen as made up of electrons, protons and neutrons interacting to form atoms. Today, we know that even protons and neutrons are not indivisible, they can be divided into quarks, while electrons are part of a particle family called leptons. Both quarks and leptons are elementary particles, and are currently seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter.
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, Isaac Newton viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces."The primary" properties of matter were amenable to
These quarks and leptons interact through four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and strong interactions. The Standard Model of particle physics is currently the best explanation for all of physics, but despite decades of efforts, gravity cannot yet be accounted for at the quantum-level; it is only described by classical physics (see quantum gravity and graviton). Interactions between quarks and leptons are the result of an exchange of force-carrying particles (such as photons) between quarks and leptons. The force-carrying particles are not themselves building blocks. As one consequence, mass and energy (which cannot be created or destroyed) cannot always be related to matter (which can be created out of non-matter particles such as photons, or even out of pure energy, such as kinetic energy). Force carriers are usually not considered matter: the carriers of the electric force (photons) possess energy (see Planck relation) and the carriers of the weak force (W and Z bosons) are massive, but neither are considered matter either.However, while these particles are not considered matter, they do contribute to the total mass of atoms, subatomic particles, and all systems which contain them.
Matter is commonly said to exist in four states (or phases): solid, liquid, gas and plasma. However, advances in experimental technique have realized other phases, previously only theoretical constructs, such as Bose–Einstein condensates and Fermionic condensates. A focus on an elementary-particle view of matter also leads to new phases of matter, such as the quark–gluon plasma.
In physics and chemistry, matter exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties, the so-called wave–particle duality.
In the realm of cosmology, extensions of the term matter are invoked to include dark matter and dark energy, concepts introduced to explain some odd phenomena of the observable universe, such as the galactic rotation curve. These exotic forms of "matter" do not refer to matter as "building blocks", but rather to currently poorly-understood forms of mass and energy.
taken from:http://www.chem4kids.com/files/matter_intro.html
Matter is a term that traditionally refers to the substance that all objects are made of, though Aristotelian hylomorphism holds that matter is not necessarily a material category. The common way to identify this "substance" is through its physical properties; a common definition of matter is anything that has mass and occupies a volume. However, this definition has to be revised in light of quantum mechanics, where the concept of "having mass", and "occupying space" are not as well-defined as in everyday life. A more general view is that bodies are made of several substances, and the properties of matter (including mass and volume) are determined not only by the substances themselves, but by how they interact. In other words, matter is made up of interacting "building blocks", the so-called particulate theory of matter.
The concept of matter has been refined many times in history, in light of the improvement in knowledge of just what the basic building blocks are, and in how they interact. For example, in the early 18th century, Isaac Newton viewed matter as "solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles", which were "even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces. The "primary" properties of matter were amenable to mathematical description, unlike "secondary" qualities such as color or taste. In the 19th century, following the development of the periodic table, and of atomic theory, atoms were seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter; atoms formed molecules and compounds.
In the late 19th century with the discovery of the electron, and in the early 20th century, with the discovery of the atomic nucleus, and the birth of particle physics, matter was seen as made up of electrons, protons and neutrons interacting to form atoms. Today, we know that even protons and neutrons are not indivisible, they can be divided into quarks, while electrons are part of a particle family called leptons. Both quarks and leptons are elementary particles, and are currently seen as being the fundamental constituents of matter.
These quarks and leptons interact through four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and strong interactions. The Standard Model of particle physics is currently the best explanation for all of physics, but despite decades of efforts, gravity cannot yet be accounted for at the quantum-level; it is only described by classical physics (see quantum gravity and graviton). Interactions between quarks and leptons are the result of an exchange of force-carrying particles (such as photons) between quarks and leptons. The force-carrying particles are not themselves building blocks. As one consequence, mass and energy (which cannot be created or destroyed) cannot always be related to matter (which can be created out of non-matter particles such as photons, or even out of pure energy, such as kinetic energy). Force carriers are usually not considered matter: the carriers of the electric force (photons) possess energy (see Planck relation) and the carriers of the weak force (W and Z bosons) are massive, but neither are considered matter either. However, while these particles are not considered matter, they do contribute to the total mass of atoms, subatomic particles, and all systems which contain them.
Matter is commonly said to exist in four states (or phases): solid, liquid, gas and plasma. However, advances in experimental technique have realized other phases, previously only theoretical constructs, such as Bose–Einstein condensates and Fermionic condensates. A focus on an elementary-particle view of matter also leads to new phases of matter, such as the quark–gluon plasma.
In physics and chemistry, matter exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties, the so-called wave–particle duality.
In the realm of cosmology, extensions of the term matter are invoked to include dark matter and dark energy, concepts introduced to explain some odd phenomena of the observable universe, such as the galactic rotation curve. These exotic forms of "matter" do not refer to matter as "building blocks", but rather to currently poorly-understood forms of mass and energy.
taken from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter
taken from:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XufjtmEe5w
on Matter
There's matter in your hair.
Matter in the air.
There's even matter in a pear!
There's liquid matter, solid matter, and matter that's a gas.
Even you are matter, because you have volume and mass!
Okay, so maybe I'm not a poet, but that's how I describe the "stuff" we call matter. In trying to make sense of the universe, scientists have classified everything that exists into two broad categories: matter and energy. Simply stated, matter can be thought of as "stuff" and energy is "the stuff that moves stuff."
Now, if you take all the "stuff" in the world, you know that there are many different types. To further simplify things, matter has been broken down into three basic types, or "states of matter": solids, liquids, and gas. (Actually there are more than three, but we're going to concentrate on the main forms here.)
Matter can change from one state to another, which we call a "physical change." Physical changes usually occur when heat (energy) is either added or taken away. A good example of a physical change is when an ice cube melts. It starts as a solid but when you add heat, it turns into a liquid. The cool thing about a physical change is that it can be reversed. If you take the liquid water from the melted ice and cool it down again (remove the heat), it turns back into a solid!
It turns out that heat isn´t the only type of energy that can cause a physical change in matter.
taken from: http://teacher.scholastic.com/dirt/matter/whatmat.htm
taken from:http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/lessons/Indianajennette2112003807/ThreeStatesofMatter.jpg
what is matter?
There's matter in your hair.
Matter in the air.
There's even matter in a pear!
There's liquid matter, solid matter, and matter that's a gas.
Even you are matter, because you have volume and mass!
Okay, so maybe I'm not a poet, but that's how I describe the "stuff" we call matter. In trying to make sense of the universe, scientists have classified everything that exists into two broad categories: matter and energy. Simply stated, matter can be thought of as "stuff" and energy is "the stuff that moves stuff."
Now, if you take all the "stuff" in the world, you know that there are many different types. To further simplify things, matter has been broken down into three basic types, or "states of matter": solids, liquids, and gas. (Actually there are more than three, but we're going to concentrate on the main forms here.)
Matter can change from one state to another, which we call a "physical change." Physical changes usually occur when heat (energy) is either added or taken away. A good example of a physical change is when an ice cube melts. It starts as a solid but when you add heat, it turns into a liquid. The cool thing about a physical change is that it can be reversed. If you take the liquid water from the melted ice and cool it down again (remove the heat), it turns back into a solid!
It turns out that heat isn't the only type of energy that can cause a physical change in matter. In my Science Lab, you'll see what happens when mechanical energy meets some wild and wacky "mystery matter"!
taken from: http://teacher.scholastic.com/dirt/matter/whatmat.htm